Some materials, such as gallium nitride, are difficult to wet etch using conventional wet etchants. In some cases, photoenhanced methods can improve wet etching results. With photoenhanced methods, the material is illuminated with ultraviolet light during the wet etching process. The incident light generates electron-hole pairs which facilitate the oxidative dissolution of the semiconductor. In conventional systems, UV light sources that have typically been used for photoenhanced wet etching of GaN include UV lasers and high-pressure arc lamps. These sources are relatively expensive and large.